Methods for use with multi-touch displays for determining when a touch is processed as a mouse event

ABSTRACT

A multi-touch driver handling user inputs or touches on a multi-touch input device. The method includes receiving touch data associated with a touch detected by the multi-touch input device. The multi-touch driver determines a target user interface (UI) component for the touch by processing the touch data and then determines whether the target handles touch events. If so, the driver sends the touch data to the target for handling as a touch event, thereby saving a touch-to-mouse conversion for later touches. The touch may be a first touch received in a particular input region of a GUI displayed on a touch surface. The driver receives touch data for a second touch input later than the first touch but while the first touch is still active. The driver determines a target UI component for the second touch and passes the second touch data to the second target as a mouse event.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

The present disclosure relates, in general, to computers and otherelectronic devices with multi-touch sensitive display surfaces orscreens, and, more particularly, to an improved method for determiningwhether a touch or contact with the multi-touch surface or screen isprocessed (e.g., treated or handled) as a touch event or as a mouseevent.

2. Relevant Background

Multi-touch surface computing is growing rapidly and is spreadingquickly from large table computers to handheld electronic devices suchas phones and personal music players. Multi-touch refers to a set ofinteraction techniques that allow computer users to control graphicalapplications with two or more fingers or pointers. Generally,multi-touch systems include a touch screen or surface and software thatrecognizes and processes multiple touch points on the surface ratherthan just a single touch point as may have been the case with typicaltouchpads.

Multi-touch systems may use a wide variety of technologies to implementto touch screen or touch input device to determine where a touch occursand to track a continued touch along a surface. For example, the touchsurface may use heat, pressure, high capture rate cameras, infraredlight, optic capture, tuned electromagnetic induction, laserrangefinders, shadow capture, and other techniques to provide touch orcontact input information to the software or drivers (e.g., multi-touchdrivers or the like) that determine points of contact and provide theuser input to applications.

Multi-touch displays surfaces are used by computer and electronic devicedesigners to creatively present interfaces to one or more users such asgraphical objects that may be selected, sized, moved, scrolled, andotherwise manipulated through the use of fingers or other physicalcontact devices (e.g., a pen, a stylus, or the like). Typically, acomputer renders a graphical user interface (GUI) on the multi-touchdisplay surface or screen, and users may manipulated GUI objects ordisplayed elements directly with their hands using multi-touchtechnology rather than traditional input devices such as a mouse or akeyboard. In other words, multi-touch devices and systems merge the userinput and data output devices into a single surface, which provides anintuitive and efficient mechanism for users to interact with a computerand applications running on the computer (e.g., to manipulate drawings,photographs, data files, and the like).

A number of problems arise from the use of a multi-touch displaysurface. Often, the multi-touch technology is added onto an existingcomputing system and its applications may have been adapted for use withprior user input technologies. For example, a computer system orelectronic device may have software applications in which all orportions of its GUI are configured to receive and process mouse eventsand mouse gestures such as to point at or select a displayed object inthe GUI. In other cases, an application running on a multi-touch systemor device may have one portion or area that receives and processes touchevents (i.e., a non-mouse event application or multi-touch applicationportion) and other portions or areas, such as a menu or controlinterface, that is responsive to mouse events but not touch events.

By default, current multi-touch systems have software, such as amulti-touch driver, that treats a first touch or contact by the user onthe multi-touch surface as a mouse event and second and later touchesare treated as touch events until the first touch is release or removedfrom the surface (e.g., the mouse adapter becomes available). As aresult, portions of the GUI and/or portions of applications may not beable to receive user input or to interface with the users. In anexemplary multi-touch system, a first touch within an interactivegraphics portion of a GUI may be processed or handled as a mouse eventand block a concurrent second touch from being able to interact or use aportion of the GUI corresponding to a non-multi-touch application, whichrequires a mouse event. This is particularly problematic whenmulti-touch display technology is implemented in a system with legacy orexisting software or applications as these will often includeapplications that have one or more windows or portions in the GUI thatnot configured to handle touches or touch events.

SUMMARY

Briefly, a touch handling method is described that may be implemented ina multi-touch driver to selectively handle or treat touch events asmouse events. In many multi-touch systems, a graphical user interface(GUI) is presented upon the touch input surface or device. The GUI mayinclude one or more regions or areas that are associated withmulti-touch (MT) aware UI component, and the GUI may also include one ormore regions or areas that are associated with non-MT aware UIcomponents (i.e., applications or UI components of applications thatexpect and handle mouse-based inputs or events, keyboard inputs, and soon). In prior multi-touch systems, a first touch at any location withinthe GUI, even within the MT aware region, was translated into a mouseevent and a mouse adapter (or touch-to-mouse conversion) was associatedwith the first touch and unavailable to second or later touches. Thisoften resulted in regions of the GUI that were associated with non-MTaware UI components being disabled or unable to accept user input untilthe mouse adapter was released or available (e.g., the first touch wasended).

In contrast, the touch handling method described herein includesreceiving a touch and determining a target application (or UI component)for the touch based on location/geography, on application mode, or thelike. The method also includes determining whether the targetapplication handles or accepts touches or touch events, and, if so, thereceived or sensed touch is handled as a touch event with the mouseconversion or adapter being saved for use by other portions of the GUIor UI components associated with regions or areas of the MT surface orscreen. When the target does not accept/handle touches, the method mayinclude determining whether the target accepts mouse events and, if so,whether the mouse adapter or touch-to-mouse conversion is available.When both are found to be true or satisfied, the method may furtherinclude marking the adapter or conversion as unavailable, translate thetouch to a mouse event, and pass the mouse event to the target forfurther processing as user input. While the touch is maintained, updatesare also sent as mouse events to the target(s). When the touch is ended(e.g., a finger is lifted away from the surface or the like), the mouseadapter or touch-to-mouse conversion may again be made available for usein handling later touches received by the multi-touch surface or inputdevice. In some cases, the method or its associated functionality may beprovided on a per-application basis in addition to a per-system basis,e.g., each application may have its own touch-to-mouse adapter.

More particularly, a method is provided for handling or processing userinput touches for use with a multi-touch input device such as acomputing or electronic device with a multi-touch surface or screen. Themethod includes running a multi-touch driver with a processor, and themulti-touch driver may include a touch event processing moduleconfigured to provide many of the functions of the method. The methodfurther may include receiving touch data associated with a user touch orinput event detected by the multi-touch input device. The multi-touchdriver may be used to determine a target user interface (UI) componentfor the touch or received touch data by processing this data (e.g., bycomparing location or geometry information with regions or areas of thetouch surface associated with UI components, by examining applicationmode data, and so on). The multi-touch driver may further determinewhether the target UI component handles touch events, and, if so,sending the touch data to the target user interface for handling as atouch event, which may include translating the touch into a touch event.In some cases, parts or portions of the multi-touch driver may reside onthe touch device itself while in other implementations parts or portionsmay be provided on the host system and/or be part of applications aswell.

In the method, the touch may be a first touch received in a particularinput region or area of a GUI displayed on the touch surface of themulti-touch input device, whereby the first touch is not by defaultprocessed or handled (with these terms used interchangeably in thisdescription) as a mouse event. In such a case, the method may includereceiving touch data for a second touch that is received later in timethan the first touch but while the first touch is maintained (or not yetended/released). The method may include determining a target UIcomponent for the second touch and passing the second touch data to thetarget UI component for handling as a mouse event. In this manner, asecond touch may be processed or handled as a mouse event.

In some embodiments of the method, the target UI component may bedetermined to not handle touch events. The method may then involvedetermining whether the target UI component handles mouse events, and,if so, sending the touch data to the target UI component for handling asa mouse event (e.g., translating the touch into a mouse event andpassing to the appropriate application or UI component of theapplication). The method may include determining whether atouch-to-mouse conversion module or mouse adapter is available prior tosending the touch data to the target UI component as a mouse event. Ifavailable, the method may include marking the conversion module isunavailable to later received touches or to other UI components (untilthe current touch is ended/released). The touch data may be receivedafter the multi-touch driver has processed or begun processing of anearlier touch associated with another target UI component, which isadapted for handling or accepting touch events. In this manner, a secondor later-in-time touch may be processed as a mouse event when one ormore prior touches have been received (and maintained or areconcurrent/active touches) that are being processed as touch events(e.g., by MT aware UI components). In some cases, the method is used toretrofit system to provide a technique for getting a new behavior eventhough the underlying system is providing the old style or convention offirst-only event conversion.

According to another aspect or embodiment, a computer readable medium isprovided for handling touch events on a multi-touch surface. Forexample, the computer readable medium may include computer useableand/or readable code stored in a computer memory or in storage mediumreadable by a processor of a computer (e.g., a multi-touch driverprogram run by a CPU, a routine used or called by a multi-touch driverwhen run by a computing or electronic device receiving contact or touchdata from a MT surface or device, or the like). The computer readablemedium may include computer readable program code devices configured tocause a computer to receive first touch data associated with a firsttouch provided at a first time in a first input region of a graphicaluser interface displayed on a multi-touch surface. The computer readablemedium may also include computer readable program code devicesconfigured to cause the computer to receive second touch data associatedwith a second touch provided at a second time later than the first timein a second input region of the graphical user interface. Further, thecomputer readable medium may include computer readable program codedevices configured to cause the computer to handle the first touch dataas a touch event and the second touch data as a mouse event, whereby thefirst touch may be maintained or active at the second time (e.g., thesecond touch is received while the first touch is still being updated orprocessed by the first UI component).

In some embodiments, the first input region corresponds to a first userinput component adapted for accepting touch events and the second inputregion corresponds to a second user input component adapted foraccepting mouse events and not accepting touch events. The computerreadable medium may also include computer readable program code devicesconfigured to cause the computer to determine the first user inputcomponent is a target of the first touch and to determine the seconduser input component is a target of the second touch. In some cases, thecomputer readable medium includes computer readable program code devicesconfigured to cause the computer to determine whether the first userinput component accepts touch events prior to handling the first touchdata as a touch event. Yet further, the computer readable medium mayinclude computer readable program code devices configured to cause thecomputer to determine whether the second user input component acceptstouch events and, when touch event are not accepted, performing thehandling of the second touch data as a mouse event. Optionally, thecomputer readable medium may include computer readable program codedevices configured to cause the computer, prior to handling the secondtouch as a mouse event, to determine that a touch-to-mouse conversionmodule is available for use by the second user input component. Note,also, that the methods described herein and the medium/softwareproviding the functions described herein may be provided as middleware,as part of an interpretation environment, and/or as part of a virtualmachine.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates in functional block form a computer or computersystem including a multi-touch (MT) surface, screen, or input device andshowing use of a multi-touch driver that is configured to handle userinputs (e.g., contacts or touches) as mouse or touch events in aselective manner;

FIG. 2 illustrates in functional block form another multi-touch systemor device illustrating state and/or data that may be processed toprocess detected/received touch events (also termed point or contactevents and touches (which may also include proximity inputs dependingupon the multi-touch technology used to detect or sense “touches” orinputs from a user) as either mouse or touch events that are provided asinputs to UI components or portions of one or more running applications;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of a touch (or contact, point, or the like)handling process for use with a multi-touch surface, screen, or displaydevice and as may be implemented, for example, by operation of thesystem of FIG. 1 or the system of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 illustrates a multi-touch input display surface during use todisplay an application GUI with two interface or input regions or areas(e.g., one that corresponds to a multi-touch (MT) aware component orportion of the application and one that corresponds to a non-MT awarecomponent or portion of the application, such as a legacy interface orthe like);

FIG. 5 illustrates a conventional or prior art multi-touch device inwhich touches to a non-MT aware area or input region are only allowed orprocessed when they occur prior to touches to a MT aware area or inputregion (or when no other touches are occurring); and

FIG. 6 illustrates a multi-touch device using a user input or touchprocessing module described herein such that a touch or user input to anon-MT aware area or region is allowed or processed even when occurringafter a prior, concurrent (or simultaneous) touch or user input in a MTaware area or input region (e.g., the user input or “touch” in a MTaware region of the multi-touch surface is sent to the application as atouch event and a touch-to-mouse converter or adapter is kept asavailable for a later user input or “touch” in a non-MT aware region ofthe multi-touch surface).

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description describes use of software (and/or hardware)implementations of user input handler or processor for use with amulti-touch system or device to more effectively handle a first userinput on a multi-touch surface or screen. For example, prior multi-touchsystem's typically used a multi-touch driver that would treat the firstuser touch as a mouse event in all cases, which caused a touch-to-mouseevent converter or adapter to be unavailable for later touches until thefirst touch was ended. The user input handler or mouse touch processingmodule described herein may, for example, be implemented in amulti-touch driver of a computer or electronic device that is running anapplication that has first and second user interface regions or windowson a multi-touch surface or user input device. The multi-touch driverfunctions to receive user input (e.g., a user's first touch, point(e.g., proximal but not always requiring contact), or contact (e.g.,contact with an input device with a stylus, pen, or the like) of amulti-touch screen—all of which may be considered “touches” in thisdescription), and the multi-touch driver maps the coordinates orlocation of the user input or touch to surface areas or regionscorresponding to the first and second applications.

The first application may accept only mouse touch events while thesecond application may accept multi-touch events or touch events (orsimply a touch). If the received user input is mapped to the firstapplication interface region, the multi-touch driver sends the input onto the first application as a mouse event (and marks touch-to-mouseconversion as unavailable). If the received user input is mapped to thesecond application interface region, the multi-touch driver sends theinput on to the second application as a touch event (not as a mouseevent), which reserves the touch-to-mouse conversion or adapter for useby a next user input or touch. In this manner, the first application mayreceive user input processed as mouse events even if it is not the firstto receive a user input or touch, whereas in prior multi-touch systemsthe first application would have had wait idle until a first touch (orthe touch-to-mouse conversion) again became available. In this manner,concurrent or simultaneous interfacing with more applications orcomponents of an application is supported by the touch processingmethods and techniques (and multi-touch and computer systems/devicesincorporating such methods) described in herein with reference to FIGS.1-6.

FIG. 1 illustrates a computer or computer system (or electronic devicesystem) 100 with a multi-touch surface or input device 110 that iscoupled to a computer/electronic device 140 via power and/orcommunication links 130. The multi-touch surface 110 is configured witha multi-touch (MT) input region 114 in which an application(s) graphicaluser interface (GUI) 112 may be displayed via data transferred to andfrom the computer device 140. For example, computer device 140 mayinclude a processor or CPU 142 that runs one or more applications 144that generate a GUI 112 that displays data, graphics, images, and thelike on the MT input region 110 of the multi-touch surface or device110. The application 144 may include one or more components 146 that arelegacy or other components that are not adapted for receiving touchevents but instead expect and process mouse events (e.g., non-MT awarecomponents), and the application 144 may also include one or more MTaware components 148 that are able to and adapted for receiving andprocessing touches or touch events provided via the multi-touch surface110.

As shown, during use of the system 100, the application GUI 112 includesa multi-touch (MT) input region 114 corresponding to the MT awarecomponent(s) 148 of application 144 and a non-MT input region 120corresponding to the non-MT aware component(s) 146. A user may use theirhand 116 or an input implement 118 to provide user input (e.g., a touch)at location or point 119 in the MT input region 114. The multi-touchsurface 110 may act to sense this input and transfer touch or contactinformation via link 130 to the computer device 140. The processor 142may manage operation of memory 160 and act to store the receivedcontact/input data 162. A multi-touch driver 150 may be provided on thecomputer/electronic device 140 and be adapted to separate the input data162 into touch event data 164 and mouse event data 168 (both of whichmay at least temporarily be stored in memory 160 of the computer 140).The touch event data 164 and mouse event data 168 may include locationinformation and/or identification information 163 (e.g., a touchlocation and ID to uniquely identify the touch or input from the user onthe MT surface 110).

A user point/contact handler 152 (e.g., a software routine or module runor executed by processor 142) may be provided in the multi-touch driver150 to process the user input (e.g., a touch or pointing at location119) to determine whether the input or touch is associated with the MTaware component 148. If so determined, such as by mapping of thelocation or coordinates of the location 119 to the MT input region 114of GUI 112, the input or touch is passed to the MT aware component 148as a touch event (e.g., as a touch event only) and the touch-to-mouseadapter or conversion module 156 is maintained as available for otherapplications/components to use. The same or a different user may use ahand 122 to provide additional user input or another touch, such as withtheir finger 124, at a second contact point or location 125. Thislocation or point 125 is in an input region 120 of the GUI 112 (ordifferent area of the multi-touch surface 110) that is associated withthe non-MT aware components 146 of the application 144.

In this case, contact input data 162 is received by the computer 140(over the link 130 from the MT surface or device 110) and processed bythe user point/contact handler 152 of the MT driver 150. The location orpoint 125 has coordinates that map to the non-MT input region 120 andnon-MT aware component 146, and, hence, the handler 152 causes thedriver 150 to classify the input data 162 as mouse event data 168 (e.g.,a touch location and ID). The touch is passed to the non-MT awarecomponent 146 as a mouse event by the processor 142 and thetouch-to-mouse adapter or conversion module 156 is associated with thecomponent 146 and marked as unavailable for use by other applications.Additional inputs or touches may be received while the input at location125 or in region 120 is maintained if the inputs are provided in the MTinput region 114 (e.g., additional touch events may be processedconcurrently with the contact at point 125). If an additional input isprovided in region 120, however, the touch would not be forwarded to thenon-MT aware components until after the contact or touch initiated atlocation 125 is removed or released. In the system 100, the locationinformation for the contact points 119, 125 and other data such as timereceived may be determined by the multi-touch surface or input device110 and its hardware/software and/or it may be provided as raw data overlink 130 to processor 142 for processing by MT driver 150 or othercomponents (not shown) to produce the information used by the userpoint/contact handler 152 in determining whether to treat the input as atouch event or as a mouse event (as described herein such as withreference to FIGS. 3-6).

The system 100 (and system 200 of FIG. 2) may utilize a wide variety oftechnologies for the multi-touch surface 110. Multi-touch (MT) isintended to denote nearly any technology and implementing device thatallows interaction between a user and running software/applicationsusing two or more input devices to “touch” a graphical user interface(GUI). For example, the MT device may include a touch screen or touchpadas well as software that recognizes multiple simultaneous touch points.The ability to receive or sense these inputs may be achieved by use ofsensors or detection devices based on heat, pressure, cameras, infraredlight, optic capture, tuned electromagnetic induction, ultrasonicreceivers, transducer microphones, laser rangefinders, shadow capture,or another technology for detecting receipt of a touch and its locationon a MT surface or screen. A “touch” in this description refers,therefore, to a user input event that is detected or sensed by a MTtechnology and transmitted with location information to a computer (suchas computer 140) for use as input to an application via its interface(displayed on the MT surface). For example, a touch may also be sensedor detected by mechanical actuators, strain gauges, and the like.

Likewise, the computer or electronic device 140 (and 230 in FIG. 2) maytake numerous forms to practice the invention. Generally, the devices140, 230 may be any electronic device with a processor running one ormore applications presenting user interfaces via a MT surface or screenand software for processing the touches such as one or more multi-touchdrivers adapted to perform as described herein. For example, the devices140, 230 may be a surface computer, a desktop or workstation computer, alaptop, notebook, handheld, mini, or other portable computer, a wirelesscommunication device such as a cellular phone, personal digitalassistant (PDA), or the like, a video game system (portable or homeunit), and so on.

Embodiments described herein of systems 100, 200 and the like (e.g.,computer architectures running multi-touch drivers functioning accordingto one or more embodiments of the invention) may include or utilize aspecial purpose or general-purpose computer including computer hardware.Embodiments may include physical and other computer-readable media forcarrying or storing computer-executable instructions and/or datastructures (such as the applications, drivers, and data stored in memoryshown in systems 100, 200 and the like). The computer-readable media maybe any available media that can be accessed by a general purpose orspecial purpose computer system. For example, computer-readable mediamay include media that stores computer-executable instructions orphysical storage media. Physical storage media may include RAM, ROM,EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage orother magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which may be used tostore desired program code in the form of computer-executableinstructions or data structures and which can be accessed by a generalpurpose or special purpose computer.

The computer or electronic devices typically are linked or coupledclosely to the MT surface (and its hardware/software), but, in someembodiments, the MT surface may be linked to the computer by a digitalcommunication network or the applications, memory, drivers, or the likemay be accessed by the computer or electronic device over a network. A“network” may include one or more data links that enable the transportof electronic data between computer systems and/or modules and/or otherelectronic devices. The network and/or data links may also be used tocarry program code in the form of computer-executable instructions ordata structures, which may be accessed by a general purpose or specialpurpose computer. Combinations of the above should also be includedwithin the scope of computer-readable media. Computer-executableinstructions may include, for example, instructions and data which causea general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or special purposeprocessing device to perform a certain function or group of functions.The computer executable instructions may be, for example, binaries,intermediate format instructions such as assembly language, or evensource code.

FIG. 2 illustrates a computer system or electronic device 200illustrating in a functional block manner a multi-touch technique formore effectively handling touches or user inputs to utilize non-MT aware(or legacy) interfaces. Specifically, system 200 is adapted with amultitouch driver 250 that functions with the use, in this example, of aMT event processing module 252 to process touches or user inputs on a MTsurface or input device to classify the touches as touch events or mouseevents and then to pass the classified user input events to thecorresponding application or UI components of an application(s). In thismanner, the first user input or touch is not by default assumed to be amouse event but each touch is instead processed to determine if thetouch can be handled or processed by a MT aware component prior toattempting to handle or process the input as a mouse event. This allowsmouse events to be generated on second, third, or later of a set ofconcurrent touches on a MT surface.

As shown, the computer system 200 includes a touch input device 210,which may be part of computing device 230 (e.g., mounted on or asintegral part of a computer housing such as in a MT computersurface/table or the like) or external to the computing device 230(e.g., spaced apart and communicatively coupled to the device 230). Thetouch input device 210 includes one or more sensors 212 that operated tosense touches to the input device 210, and a processor 214 may beincluded to interpret the data from the sensor(s) 212 such to determinewhether a touch has occurred, whether a touch has been maintained orreleased, a location or point of contact for a touch relative to asurface/screen of the input device 210, whether a touch location hasbeen moved on the screen, and the like. The processor 214 sends thiscontact or touch input data to a bus interface 216, which writes thedata to communication bus 220 that links or couples the touch inputdevice 210 to the computing device 230. The communicated data often willinclude a touch ID as well as location data (such as X-Y coordinates onthe screen or surface) for each detected or sensed touch or user input.

The computing device 230 uses a bus interface 232 to read data from thecommunications bus 220 including the contact or touch input data fromthe processor 214. The computing device 230 includes one or moreprocessors or CPUs 234 that run one or more applications 240 as shownwith a runtime 242 running code 246 (which, in turn uses an applicationframework 248). The application 240 is shown to include legacy UIcomponents 255, which are not configured for touch events but insteadexpect and process mouse events 254 (or keyboard events/input (notshown)), and the application 240 also include MT aware UI components 257that expect and handle touch events 256. The events 254, 256 areprovided as user input via GUI generated by the application 240 duringruntime 242 and displayed on the touch input device 210 to a user of thesystem 200.

The processing unit 234 also runs an operating system (OS) 238 and adevice driver acts to read user input or touch data from the businterface 232, which it passes to the OS 238. The OS 238 processes thetouch data and provides the data or user input/contact event data to amultitouch driver 250 (shown here to be run by the processing unit 234as part of the application 240 runtime 242). The multitouch driver 250includes an MT event processing module 252 that is configured to processthe touch data and/or user input/contact event data to determine whetherto handle these inputs/touches as mouse events 254 or as touch events256 (and to determine which UI component 255, 257 to provide the eventsto). In practice, this may be accomplished by employing the method 300shown in FIG. 3. Briefly, though, the MT event processing module 252 maydetermine whether the touch or input corresponds to a MT aware UIcomponent 257 or to a non-MT or legacy UI component 255. If to a MTaware UI component 257, then the touch or input is characterized orclassified as a touch event and passed as a touch event 256 to theappropriate one of the MT aware UI components 257. If to a non-MT awareor legacy UI component 255, then the driver 250 characterized orclassifies the touch or input as a mouse event 254 and passes it as suchto a corresponding one of the legacy UI components 255 (e.g., thecomponent with an input region on the GUI displayed on the input device210 that includes the coordinates or location of the touch) for furtherprocessing. Often, a system 200 may only support one mouse event at atime, and, in such cases, a touch-to-mouse conversion may be marked asnot available upon or prior to generation of the mouse event 254 to thenon-MT aware UI component 255, and the touch-to-mouse conversion moduleor adapter may be released or marked as available upon release of userinput (e.g., upon receipt of touch data indicating a user has ended atouch associated with the mouse event).

FIG. 3 illustrates a touch handling process 300 as may be implemented bythe MT drivers 150, 250 of FIGS. 1 and 2. The process 300 starts at 305such as by a multi-touch surface or touch input device displaying a GUIwith regions or windows associated with two or more applications orcomponents of one or more applications, and these applications orcomponents may have user interfaces that are MT aware or that are notadapted for receiving/processing touches (i.e., a non-MT awareinterfaces or application components). At 310, the multi-touch surfaceor input device may receive a touch or user input (with a finger, hand,or other input device), and touch or contact data such as a touch ID andlocation may be passed to a computing device for processing by itsmulti-touch driver or other mechanism.

When it is determined at 310 that a touch or input has been received,the method 300 continues at 320 with determining with the multi-touchdriver a target application, and if a touch is not received the method300 continues at 310. As part of step 320, the driver 150 may access thecontact or touch data to obtain a touch location (e.g., X-Y coordinates,by other geometry processes, or the like) and compare this with a set ofapplication component display areas, which may define areas or regionsof the MT surface or screen associated with the user interface of eachapplication or application component presently accessible via adisplayed GUI. In some cases, though, the touch or contact data mayinclude a target application due to prior processing by the MT deviceand/or computing device components. Once a target application for atouch is determined or identified at 320, the method 300 may continue at324 with the MT driver determining whether the target accepts touches oris a MT aware UI component.

If the touch corresponds to a MT aware target, the MT driver acts at 328to send the touch (or touch data) to the target application or target UIcomponent as a touch event. When updates are detected for thisparticular touch, the updates are also sent as touches or touch eventsto a target or corresponding UI component. For example, a user may toucha MT screen at a first location and drag their finger to a secondlocation, and the location update information would be sent as a touchevent (associated with the same touch event such as by touch ID) to theMT aware UI component for further processing. At 334, a detected end orrelease of a touch is also sent as a touch or touch event to the MTaware UI component, and the method 300 continues at 310 with waiting fora next or an additional touch or contact from a user on the MT surfaceor screen.

At 324, when the MT driver determines that the target application ortarget UI component does not accept touches (or is non-MT aware as maybe the case for a legacy UI component), the driver acts at 340 todetermine whether the target accepts mouse events and whether thetouch-to-mouse adapter or conversion module is available. If not, whichmay be the case if a touch has previously been converted to a mouseevent, the method 300 continues at 310 with waiting for a next oradditional user input or touch on the MT screen or surface. If mouseaware and conversion available, the method 300 continues at 346 with MTdriver marking touch-to-mouse conversion as unavailable. At 350, thetouch or user input is processed such that its record in memory (e.g.,the event data 162, 164, 168 shown in FIG. 1) is updated to note thattouch associated with the current ID has been converted into a mouseevent (e.g., the ID of the converted touch may be changed to amouse-touch ID or the like). At 360, the touch is sent as a mouse event(with location information) to the target application or target UIcomponent for further processing/use. Method 300 may also include at 358converting the touch into a mouse-down event that is sent to the targetapplication.

At 370, the method 300 may include determining whether the mouse-eventtouch has been maintained, and when it has, the method 300 may includeconverting updates to mouse events that are then sent to the targetapplication or UI component. For example, a mouse-down event may act toselect a graphical object in a legacy portion or region of GUI, and auser may act to manipulate the selected object with mouse updates, e.g.,to drag the selected object to a new location, to rotate/position theobject, to size the object, and other mouse-based gestures orinteractions. When the touch is not maintained on the MT surface, theend of touch is converted to a mouse-up event at 380 by the MT driverand sent to the target application or UI component as a mouse event. At384, the method 300 continues with marking the conversion ortouch-to-mouse adapter as available, and the method 300 may again waitfor additional touches at 310.

Note, the method 300 is intended to handle more than one simultaneous orat least concurrently applied touches, and the steps shown for themethod 300 may be performed for two or more touches at the same time.For example, two touches may be received simultaneously and both beprocessed as shown in FIG. 3 to determine whether to handle one orneither of the touches as a mouse event. In another case, a first touchmay be received at a first time at a first location in a regionassociated with a first UI component and process 300 may be initiatedfor this touch, and a second touch may be received at a second time(later than the first time) at a second location in the regionassociated with the first UI component or a different region associatedwith a second UI component. This second touch would be processedconcurrently with the first touch (but the steps of method 300 may beoffset in time, for example). Additionally, third, fourth, fifth, andmore touches may be received concurrently and sequentially on a MTsurface and processed by the method 300 implemented by one or more MTdrivers as described herein. In this manner, each touch is processed todetermine whether it was received in a non-MT aware region that handlesmouse events and, if so, whether the touch-to-mouse conversion isavailable for use by this touch. A touch occurring in a MT aware regionof a GUI or MT surface will not cause the conversion to be marked asunavailable, which allows a GUI with non-MT aware components to be moreeffectively used in a MT-based system or device.

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary multi-touch input display surface 400such as may be provided in a MT device or system as shown in FIGS. 1 and2 and that may be used during implementation of method 300 of FIG. 3. Asshown, an application GUI 410 is displayed within or via the displaysurface 400. The application GUI 410 may be generated when a computingdevice associated with the display surface 400 runs one or moreapplications by a processor. The application(s) associated with the GUI410 may be an application that includes components that are adaptedspecifically for use with touch devices or display surfaces (such assurface 400), and these components may generate user interface regionsor windows 430 that may be considered multitouch-aware portions,regions, or canvas 430. In contrast, though, the application associatedwith the application GUI 410 may also include one or more UI componentsthat are not adapted for touch inputs but instead expect moreconventional inputs such as keyboard inputs or mouse events. Such UIcomponents may generate a legacy interface 420 that accepts mouse events(and keyboard events), which may also be called a non-MT aware interfaceportion or region of the GUI 410.

In a typical implementation, the MT aware portion 430 may be associatedwith interface graphics portion of the application such as may be usedto display photographic images, models, animated video images, and so onthat may a user may select, move, size, or otherwise manipulate withone, two, or more fingers (or other input devices). The non-MT awareinterface portion 420 may, in contrast, be a controller or controlportion (such as a menu) that may include buttons, labels, menus, popupmenus, scrollbars, sliders, and other input objects more typicallyoperated based on mouse gestures. Such a legacy interface 420 may bebuilt from parts owned by parties other than those that developed the MTaware portion 430 (e.g., UI widgets and the like), may be written orcreated prior to multitouch technologies were available (but this is, ofcourse, not necessary to practice the invention), and may be expensiveor even nearly impossible/impractical to upgrade to be multitouch aware.

In use with a multi-touch driver (and/or a user touch/contact handler)as described herein, the application GUI 410 is displayed on the MTinput display surface 400. A first contact on a first point or location432 in the MT aware portion 430 will be processed and handled as a touchevent because the driver determines that the UI component or portion ofthe application associated with the GUI 410 can handle touches or touchevents. In such a case, the touch-to-mouse conversion is still availablesuch that a second contact, point, or touch by a user at a second pointor location 422 in the legacy interface 420 results in the touch beinghandled or processed as a mouse event. This also would occur if thetouch at location or point 422 were the first-in-time touch received inthe GUI 410. Likewise, if two, three, or more touches occur in portion430 prior to a touch in interface portion 420, the touch at location orpoint 422 will still be processed as a mouse event as the touch-to-mouseconversion remains available as touches to the MT aware portion 430 donot cause the conversion to become unavailable (as is the case of atouch in interface or non-MT aware portion or region 420). Hence,interface 420 may be interacted with by a user even when it is nottouched or contacted first by a user, with a first touch in this region(or another non-MT aware region) of the GUI 410 causing thetouch-to-mouse conversion module or adapter to be marked as unavailable.

FIG. 5 illustrates a conventional multi-touch system or device 500 witha multi-touch surface 510 for receiving user inputs as one, two, or moretouches that are sensed by an MT technology to provide contact data(e.g., location of a touch on the surface 510). As shown, the surface510 may include or provide a legacy UI region or portion 520 thatdisplays selectable objects and the like 522, and this portion 520 isprovided by a non-MT aware UI component of one or more applications runby the system 500. The surface 510 also displays or provides a touchaware portion 530 of the GUI that displays interactive graphics,objects, and so on 532, and this portion 530 corresponds to (or isgenerated by) a MT aware UI component of one or more applications run bythe system 500.

In this conventional multi-touch system 500, a first touch is by defaultprocessed as a mouse event regardless of where on the surface 510 itoccurs. Hence, when a user 550 uses a finger 552 (or other input device)to touch the MT aware portion 530 of the GUI at point or location 554 ata first time, t_(MT), the system 500 determines that this is afirst-in-time touch and translates the touch event into a mouse event.The touch-to-mouse conversion is, hence, unavailable while the contactwith finger 552 is maintained, e.g., if the user 550 continues tomanipulate the object 532 by dragging it or the like, additional mouseevents cannot occur in the system 500. If a user 540 uses their finger542 (or other input device) to contact or touch an object 522 or otherpoint or location 544 in non-MT aware region 520, the touch can only beprocessed and translated by the system 500 into a mouse event when itoccurs at a time, t, prior to time, t_(MT), of the touch in the MT-awareregion 530 (or after the touch in the region 530 has beenended/released). The handling of touch events such that a first (andonly first) touch event is translated into a mouse event allowscompatibility of touch UI components with legacy or non-MT aware UIcomponents, but it produces the undesirable result that the legacy ornon-MT aware UI components often may be unavailable or non-interactive(even though they are being displayed in the surface 510) as theMT-aware UI portion or region 530 has received the first touch and isblocking other touches as being processed as mouse events.

FIG. 6 illustrates a multi-touch system or device (such as a surfacecomputing table or the like) 600 that may be adapted as shown in systems100 and 200 to handle touches as described in the method 300 of FIG. 3and elsewhere herein. The multi-touch system 600 includes an MT inputdevice or surface 610 that is adapted to sense touches by users of thesystem 600 to allow the user to provide input using their hands (asshown) or other “touch” input devices. The input device or surface 610may provide a touch location and ID or other contact information to amulti-touch driver (or UI component of an application) of system 600. Aswith the system 500, one or more applications run by system 600 act tocreate a GUI on surface 610 with a MT aware region or portion 630, whichcorresponds to a touch aware UI component, and with a non-MT awareregion 620, which corresponds to a non-MT aware UI component (e.g., a UIcomponent that only recognizes keyboard, mouse, and similar inputs orevents).

However, in contrast, a touch in system 600 may be handled as ortranslated into a mouse event even when it is not a first touch. Inother words, the system 600 is adapted such that a first touch in thenon-MT aware region 620 of the GUI of surface 610 is translated into amouse event while touches in the MT aware region 630 of GUI of surface610 are handled or processed as touch events (e.g., touch to mouseconversion remains available no matter how many touches occur in region630). In operation of system 600, for example, a user 640 may use theirfinger (or other device) 642 to provide a touch at location or point 644at a first time, t₁ (such as to select an object to be added todisplayed object 632). The user may maintain this touch from the firsttime, t₁, to a second time, t₂, and on to a third time, t₃, as shown at641 with finger 643 providing a touch at location or point 645. This mayoccur when a user selects an object in region 630 and drags 646 it to anew location/position as is common in many GUI applications. Updates inregion 630 will be passed as touches during the drag 646. Similarly,additional touches may be made in region 630 by the same or other users,and each of these additional touches would be translated into touchevents.

Without the described touch handling processes, the system 600 would notbe able to handle touches in non-MT aware region 620 from the firsttime, t₁, to the third time, t₃. However, in the system 600, a user 650may use their finger or other input device 652 to provide a user inputor touch at a location or point 654 in the non-MT aware region at a timethat is simultaneous with or after the first time, t₁, and the touchwill still be properly handled or processed as a mouse event. In theillustrated example, a user 650 uses a finger 652 to provide a touch atlocation or point 654 in non-MT aware region 620, which coincides withan object 622. The touch at location 654 occurs at the second time, t₂(i.e., while the drag 646 is occurring in the MT-aware region 630 of theGUI on surface 610).

The system 600 (e.g., a MT driver configured as described herein)determines that the UI component associated with the region or area 620of the GUI does not accept touches but does accept mouse events and alsodetermines that the touch-to-mouse conversion is available, as it hasnot been used or marked unavailable by the touches in the MT-awareregion or area 630. As a result, the touch or click at location 654 onthe button 622 at the second time, t₂, which is after a first touch inthe MT-aware region or area 630, succeeds, and the user 650 is able tointeract with the legacy UI component associated with the non-MT awareregion or area 620 concurrently with interact with the MT-aware regionor area 630.

Although the invention has been described and illustrated with a certaindegree of particularity, it is understood that the present disclosurehas been made only by way of example and that numerous changes in thecombination and arrangement of parts can be resorted to by those skilledin the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention,as hereinafter claimed. As will be understood from the abovedescription, the described processes and systems enable multi-handedinteraction for a system with a control panel that includes legacycomponents and a canvas that may consume touch events. For example, thisenables a system where the user may work on the canvas and activateaction modifiers by pressing virtual buttons on the input surface (suchas area 620 of FIG. 6). The user is not limited to simple “buttons” butmay use any legacy control, such as but not limited to sliders, colorpickers, and the like. The user may use such legacy controls withouthaving to remove their hand from the canvas area of the system or itsmulti-touch display.

1. A method for processing touches for a multi-touch input device,comprising: with a multi-touch driver of a multi-touch input device,receiving data associated with a touch; determining a target userinterface component for the touch by processing the touch data with themulti-touch driver; with the multi-touch driver, determining whether thetarget user interface component processes touch events; and when thetarget user interface component is determined to process touch events,sending the touch data to the target user interface component forprocessing as a touch event.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the touchis a first touch received in an input region of the multi-touch inputdevice associated with the target user interface component.
 3. Themethod of claim 2, further comprising receiving data associated with asecond touch that is input after the receiving of the first touch andwhile the first touch is maintained, determining a target user interfacecomponent for the second touch by processing the second touch data withthe multi-touch driver, and passing the second touch data to the targetuser interface component associated with the second touch for processingas a mouse event.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising when thetarget user interface component is determined to not process touchevents, sending the touch data to the target user interface componentfor processing as a mouse event.
 5. The method of claim 4, furthercomprising prior to the sending of the touch data for processing as amouse event, determining whether a touch-to-mouse conversion module isavailable and when determined available, marking the touch-to-mouseconversion module as unavailable.
 6. The method of claim 4, wherein thetouch data is received after the multi-touch driver has processed anearlier touch for the multi-touch input device for an input regionassociated with another target user interface component that is adaptedfor accepting touch events, the earlier touch being maintained by themulti-touch driver when the touch data is received.
 7. A computerreadable medium for processing touch events on a multi-touch surface,comprising: computer readable program code devices configured to cause acomputer to receive first touch data associated with a first touchprovided at a first time in a first input region of a graphical userinterface displayed on a multi-touch surface; computer readable programcode devices configured to cause the computer to receive second touchdata associated with a second touch provided at a second time later thanthe first time in a second input region of the graphical user interface;and computer readable program code devices configured to cause thecomputer to process the first touch data as a touch event and the secondtouch data as a mouse event, wherein the first touch is active at thesecond time.
 8. The computer readable medium of claim 7, wherein thefirst input region corresponds to a first user input component adaptedfor accepting touch events and wherein the second input regioncorresponds to a second user input component adapted for accepting mouseevents and not accepting touch events.
 9. The computer readable mediumof claim 8, further comprising computer readable program code devicesconfigured to cause the computer to determine the first user inputcomponent is a target of the first touch and to determine the seconduser input component is a target of the second touch.
 10. The computerreadable medium of claim 9, further comprising computer readable programcode devices configured to cause the computer to determine whether thefirst user input component accepts touch events prior to processing thefirst touch data as a touch event.
 11. The computer readable medium ofclaim 9, further comprising computer readable program code devicesconfigured to cause the computer to determine whether the second userinput component accepts touch events and, when touch event are notaccepted, performing the processing of the second touch data as a mouseevent.
 12. The computer readable medium of claim 11, further comprisingcomputer readable program code devices configured to cause the computer,prior to processing the second touch as a mouse event, determining thata touch-to-mouse conversion module is available for use by the seconduser input component.
 13. A multi-touch system, comprising: a touchinput device including a displayed graphical user interface with a firstinput region and a second input region; a computing device coupled tothe touch input device, wherein the computing device is operable to runa first user interface component associated with the first input regionand to run a second user interface component associated with the secondinput region, the first user interface component adapted to accept touchevents and the second user interface component adapted to accept mouseevents; and a multi-touch driver used by the computing device to processtouch data from the touch input device to map the touch data to thefirst user interface component or the second user interface componentbased on a location of an associated touch, wherein the touch data issent as a touch event when mapped to the first user interface componentand as a mouse event when mapped to the second user interface component.14. The system of claim 13, wherein the location of the associated touchis within the first input region and wherein the associated touchcorresponds to a first user input to the touch input device.
 15. Thesystem of claim 13, wherein the location of the associated touch iswithin the second input region and wherein the associated touchcorresponds to a second user input applied to the touch input deviceafter a first user input to the touch input device in the first inputregion.
 16. The system of claim 15, wherein the first user input ismaintained when the associated touch is provided in the second inputregion.
 17. The system of claim 16, further comprising a mouse adapterproviding touch-to-mouse conversions, wherein the multi-touch driverdetermines the mouse adapter is available prior to sending the touchdata as a mouse event to the second user interface component.
 18. Amethod for handling a concurrent touches of a touch input device,comprising: with a computing device, running an application to display agraphical user interface (GUI) on a surface of the touch input device,the application including a multi-touch (MT) aware user input (UI)component associated with a first input region of the GUI and includinga non-MT aware UI component associated with a second input region of theGUI; first receiving touch data for a first touch in the first inputregion; second receiving touch data for a second touch in the secondinput region; with a multi-touch driver run on the computing device aspart of an operating system, application runtime or application, sendingthe first touch data to the MT aware UI component as a touch event; andwith the multi-touch driver, sending the second touch data to the non-MTaware UI component as a mouse event, wherein the first touch is appliedto the surface of the touch input device before the second touch andwherein the first touch is ongoing when the second touch is applied tothe surface of the touch input device.
 19. The method of claim 18,further comprising operating the multi-touch driver to handle updates tothe first touch data as touch events and to handle updates to the secondtouch data as mouse events.
 20. The method of claim 19, wherein the MTaware UI component can accept touches as mouse events and wherein thenon-MT aware UI component cannot accept touches as touch events.